How to CORRECTLY Solder A Vertical Copper Pipe (Complete Guide) | GOT2LEARN

what's up guys and welcome back to another video so i've been making a lot of soldering videos lately such as how to solder in a confined space how to solder like a pro without getting any drips of solder all over your pipes but i've never talked about soldering a vertical joint before and in this video i'll be showing you an easy step-by-step fashion how to do it and i'll give you all kinds of cool little tricks to make it that much easier so let's get started so why make a separate video just for a vertical joint i already watched your how to solder copper pipe video isn't it the same thing the answer is no because the joint that was soldering was a horizontal joint and soldering a vertical joint requires a totally different approach here are some reasons why on a horizontal joint you apply your solder without any restrictions as such but on a vertical pipe the bottom joint needs to be able to wick the solder upwards and fight gravity so to speak so i'll be covering how to ensure it's done properly the second reason is the heat heating the joint properly on a horizontal joint is important but even more important on a vertical one so i'll show you my way of doing it which never leaks and lastly is supporting the pipe i'll be showing you three quick ways to temporarily support it for it not to fall as if it does fall it could end up looking like this which would mean it needs replacement so what tools and materials do i need you'll be needing a torch some gas a cheap igniter something to clean your pipe and fitting a rotary cutter a deburring tool some solder some flux and a clean rag the torch i use when doing half inch to one inch pipe is this one right here it works just fine and it only costs around 30 dollars so it's great for budget repairs also the fact that the flame isn't too big like pro torches you don't need to worry as much for setting your surroundings on fire as for the type of gas i just buy the blue propane bottles the yellow bottles also known as map gas isn't really map gas anymore as it was discontinued in 2008 but kept the map name for marketing purposes so there's no real difference between both of them anymore my torch doesn't have a built-in igniter so i'll need a striker to ignite it these only cost around four to five dollars as for cleaning the pipe and fitting you'll need some sandpaper or an abrasive pad for the pipe and a wire brush for the fitting i prefer the scotch brite type pads to clean my pipes as they tend to slip less in the hand as opposed to these rolls of sandpaper and for the fittings you could use the same thing but it's a lot easier to use these brushes to get it done and plus there's a cool trick you could do with these to speed up the process which i'll show later to cut your pipe you'll need a good rotary cutter i don't suggest getting the five dollar cutters as they cut crooked and they're just hard to use the best cutter for the price in my opinion is the auto cut cutter it's only 15 dollars and it works like a charm here's a review i did of it not too long ago whenever you cut a pipe you need to deburr it if i'm soldering the copper pipe i prefer using this type of deburring tool as it's lightweight and easy to carry but it only deburs the inside of the pipe if you are installing propress or sharkbite for example you'd need to deburr the outside as well this is where these come in handy as they do both the interior and the exterior of the pipe also you'll need some lead-free solder and water-soluble flux i'm using the audi brand for both but any reputable brand will do just fine just make sure you see the lead-free logo on your solder and lastly a good clean rag all right with that out of the way let's get on with the real stuff here's the setup i'll be demonstrating it on i have a three quarter inch copper line and i'll need to solder on a coupling with a piece of pipe an elbow and a cap at the end of it so to start the first thing you want to make sure of is that there's no water dripping from the pipe water is your worst enemy when trying to solder if there's any water leaking it means that you have leftover water in the system or a faulty shutoff valve which needs to be addressed i made a video on this subject on how to counteract any water in a system that will help you a lot if you have this problem i'll link it right here and in the description box below if you need it once you got it to stop leaking if it was you could start with the preparation go ahead and cut the pipes you need to cut and use your sandpaper or abrasive pad to clean the pipe ends a bit of advice here is don't cut corners when it comes to cleaning your pipes and fittings preparation is 90 of the job done right so take that extra time to do things properly you might get lucky on a horizontal joint but when it comes to vertical joints they must be spotless in order for the solder to wick upwards and fight gravity here's a side-by-side comparison of a properly clean fitting and pipe and an improperly clean fitting in pipe the properly clean ones are nice and shiny and the improperly clean ones still have some unclean spots which would most definitely prevent your solder from joining both the pipe and fitting together a cool gadget that i use all the time now and that speeds things up is this drill attachment just chuck it up insert the pipe and brush it under three seconds neat huh the same thing could be done with your fitting brush just cut off the brush portion and check it in your drill it'll speed things up quite a lot now on to deburring i can't stress enough on how deburring is crucial for a good installation i made a very thorough video on this and why exactly it must be done and all the consequences your system will have if it's not i'll leave a link here and below with the others and i strongly suggest watching it to get a clear understanding of why it's so important so now that the pipe and fitting are clean and deburred let's talk about the fluxing part the flux has a major role in the process and that's to keep any oxides from building up on the surface of the pipe while it's being heated being an acid it also cleans the copper from any greases or oils that may have been on the pipe here's another side by side comparison of solder being applied to a flux pipe and one without on the pipe without flux it may look normal but oxides got in between the solder and pipe and didn't allow for the solder to properly adhere to the surface which would guarantee you a leak you'd also want to be careful not to cook off the flux as you're heating the joint as it would give the same result as if you hadn't applied any so how much flux do i really need you really don't need that much i simply apply a thin layer on the pipe and not in the fitting i noticed that by applying some in the fitting when you insert the pipe it basically scrapes it off and pushes it into the fitting as seen here on small projects like this one today it's fine but on big projects it could take months before the flux is washed out from the system allowing it to eat the copper and corrode it so only apply a thin layer on the pipe and you should be fine you could also use tinning flux which helps to get full solder coverage because of the solder powder that's in it alright so all of the above is completed now let's move on to the next step which is to secure the pipe the first thing you want to do before actually soldering is making sure that the vertical pipe is well supported let me show you why as you heat a fitting it expands just enough to let go of the pipe which could get very frustrating so here are three ways that i know of of temporarily making it hold in place my least preferred way of doing it is to pinch the coupling with a set of adjustable pliers and rotate the pipe this will give it just enough tension to hold it while you're soldering but it could prevent the solder from going where it was pinched so the next trick which is easily accessible is to get a piece of wood cut it to length and jam it in between both studs when you're done just tap it to remove it and the creme de la creme of all tricks is to grab your tape measure lock the blade and set it to the correct height this method works whenever and wherever you need it and what's fun is that every plumber has a tape measure pretty cool huh and now on to the final step soldering when i'm soldering half inch to one inch joints on vertical setups i prefer heating the middle portion of the fitting here's why by heating the middle portion the solder for both the top and bottom joints will go towards the middle where you want it to go but let's say we do this again but this time we'd heat only the bottom joint as opposed to the middle you'd be able to solder the top joint but when you'd get to the bottom one the heat would pull the solder from the top joint into the bottom one and overflow as the heat attracts the solder this would cause a dry spot which would most likely leak now a joint can only take so much solder so it's either gonna drop out or drop down inside the pipe which are two things you don't really want here's what over feeding a joint looks like the solder will settle at the bottom of the elbow and restrict flow in the system which is not good so a cool trick i learned when i first started as a plumber to gauge how much solder to use is to bend the tip but why exactly if you're soldering half inch pipe the joint generally requires about a half inch of solder so bend the tip half an inch for half inch pipe and if you're soldering three quarter inch pipe bend it three quarters of an inch and so on this will give you a good visual indicator of when to stop applying it so go ahead and circle around the fitting as much as you can always staying close to the middle part of the fitting and probe the joint every 5 seconds or so to test if it's hot enough a common mistake i see at this stage is when a beginner heats the actual solder this will only break the solder off and won't do much good so always heat the opposite side of where you're applying the solder to make sure this doesn't happen now keep probing it and when the solder starts to melt remove the heat as to not burn any of the flux good then do the same thing for the bottom the bottom joint should take less long to melt as the fitting is already hot so once again apply some heat in the middle and as soon as you see the solder melt remove it apply your solder and let your joint rest for a few seconds before touching it what i like to do at this point is to solder the rest of the joints which lets the first ones cool down and then i wipe off any excess flux left from soldering if you skip this step the leftover flux will cause vertigree on the pipe and fitting which could eat through the copper in the long run so always wipe it clean and that's how to properly solder a vertical joint this of course is my way of doing it but other techniques may work just as well so do your research and use the technique that's most comfortable to you and as usual if you guys learned something from this video please give it a thumbs up share it and subscribe to the channel and until the next one thanks for watching

Channel: Got2Learn

Views: 5,613,220

Keywords: plumbing trick, plumbing hacks, plumbing, fix it yourself, plumbing videos, plumbing tools, plumbing basics, plumbing repair, plumbing diy, plumbing how to, plumbing video, how to do plumbing, how to repair plumbing, how to fix plumbing, rough in plumbing, how to solder, soldering copper pipe, how to solder copper pipe, how to sweat copper pipe, how to sweat copper fittings, got2learn, How to Solder Copper Pipe The CORRECT Way, how to solder vertical joint, life hacks

Id: NQmWLr1qBsM

Length: 13min 47sec (827 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 05 2019